Bing Organic Keyword Research Tool Built to Impress

Bing announced several new features in its Webmaster Tools offering this week. Most notable was the introduction of an impressive keyword research tool.

Available only within Webmaster Tools (WMT) accounts, Bing's keyword research tool (see a screenshot below) provides search marketers the ability to see query volume data and related phrases across different countries and languages. The keyword research tool holds data on six months' worth of queries, so users will be able to select a date range and see query volume fluctuations. There is, however, a two-week latency so you may not see the most recent data available.

What is interesting about the tool is that it leverages "raw" organic query data, meaning it is not "rounded" (modified) in any way. adCenter CPC data is also shown to help advertisers understand the cost of paid ads for keywords and phrases they choose to promote their website under. By hovering over one of the related phrases, Bing shows the average cost per click and average bid for both the MainLine (ads that appear above organic listings) and Sidebar (ads appearing to the right of organic listings).

There are a few other noteworthy features of the tool including a "history" option which shows the last 25 queries entered into the keyword research tool, and the ability to click on any phrase in the list and "pivot" to data around that phrase and related keywords. But that's not all. Search marketers can even sort by impression count (i.e. lowest to highest).

Bing also announced the introduction of Bing Webmaster Tools API which will enable developers to use Bing WMT data in other applications.